Sounds like a comedy sketch I would watch

Because it's not his body. Things are a little off.

No problem!

After Hwang freed me, I tried standing up. My arms and legs felt weak and I nearly fell over. Hwang seemed prepared for this.

"Easy now, Captain," he said as he caught me, "This isn't your body. It's going to take a moment to feel out the controls."

I nodded my understanding and eased myself back into the chair. A sense of vertigo washed over me for a moment as I felt as if things didn't quite fit. Like the arms and legs were the wrong size and my head was in the wrong location. It seemed to pass and with each moment I felt more and more "at home" in this skin.

"187 Minute War," I prompted, "What is it?"

"Eh," Hwang said, "Kind of complicated. You'll remember more, but - in short - about sixty years from now a bunch of countries that have been stockpiling nukes, chemical weapons, and high speed kinetic weapons all grow really frustrated because they have all these expensive toys and aren't allowed to play with them. So, within about six months, they all go from arguing about trade policy with sternly worded speeches to just hurling the scary stuff at each other. Two different factions form amid all these chaos and they decide the best way to bring the madness to a stop is to send the other guys back to the stone age. Just over two hours later approximately half the planet is left uninhabitable."

I think I said something. A profanity perhaps? He didn't seem to notice, he just kept talking.

"I forget the official tally," he said, "But something like six billion people died in that first week or so. Another two in the next few months as food shortages and disease took them out. Within a year the human race had been reduced from a population over 12 billion to something like 900 million scattered over a few dozen countries where it was still safe to walk outside without a full hazmat suit. Or, at least, it was. Some climate shift took place. I don't understand it. Something about the carbon released or maybe the ash? I don't know. The rains started bringing stuff from the badlands into the good lands and something vital way down in the food chain went extinct. Things started collapsing pretty fast after that. It took about ten years for them to go past the tipping point, but after that the population was doomed."

"But . . . you said we were from 250 years in the future. That sounds like we go extinct in less than a century."

He shrugged.

"Not quite," he said, "Just because of random chance alone some parts of Africa and South America manage to escape the worst of this. Australia probably would have been okay too if they hadn't been right in the worst of the arguing from the start. Survivors flocked to those areas and things died slower. We think the first Null Spindle was created."

"The what?" I asked.

"Sir," he said, "I'm not a techie. They just told us something about a device inside the building is responsible for detangling us from the normal flow of time. Apparently this allows us to project ourselves into the past in the first place but also means that what we do here doesn't affect us personally. At least not usually. There is a theory that AlphaCat is working under they call The Causality Whip."

Either my memory was coming back or I was losing my mind because the more he talked, the more familiar this sounded. AlphaCat, for instance. That was a computer and it wasn't Alpha Cat as in "meow" it was Alpha, the Greek letter, and Quantum Amplitude Temporalizer. Alpha QAT. It was a machine that calculated which events would cause the greatest impact on the future while causing the least immediate disruption. There was a theory that the smart guys in the white coats had. Something they called temporal inertia where time keeps trying to stay on the same course it has been following. The closer to the event you are trying to avoid the more of a jolt you need to dislodge it. But, the more energy you put in the larger the ripples and-

"Felix Fisker," I muttered.

"Good, sir!" Hwang said, "Your memory is coming back."

"No it isn't," I said, "I don't know who that is. It just seems important."

"Well, it was important at one time," Hwang said, "Now he's a forgotten nobody. The entanglement projector only works so far back. After that the energy demands get to be astronomical. We're around the theoretical limit right now so while we can project ourselves to time lines closer to the war we can't go much further back than right now. Well, about 100 years ago we think a group discovered the method and created the spindle and they tried to stop a cataclysm that they said was the first step in the coming events. They thought the rise to power of a power hungry German solider was what caused events to play out the way they did. So, going at the theoretical limit of their technology, they went back and arranged for him to die in a traffic accident before he rose to power."

"And what happened?"

"And . . . a failed artist took his place and events mostly unfolded the way they did originally," Hwang said, "It was too close to the event and even doing something drastic like that wasn't enough to fully deflect the course of things to come."

"So, nothing changed?"

"Didn't say that," Hwang corrected me, "I said mostly the same. Turns out the artist guy wasn't as gifted with tactics and was also more obsessed with occult matters. So, unlike Fisker, he wasted time and resources doing stupid things and allowed racist policies to chase away brilliant scientists who took up in the west with their findings. As such, the Germans lost the race to develop the atom bomb in this time line and Great Britain still remained as a major player in the world of politics. So in the original timeline, the war that ends everything happened a few decades sooner and was called the Ten Day Armageddon. Which means, yeah, it worked. It delayed things and the fallout was less overall. But the downside is that they managed to also uninvent some of the technology they were dependent upon. They turned off the spindle and stuff started to unwind around them as the timeline tried to reassert itself upon them. They managed to cobbled together enough notes that our guys could reconstruct some of it, but now we're that much closer to the event we must change. We lost a lot of ground there."

The Whip. I remembered it now. Cause too big of a change all at once and the ripples just grew in magnitude and the shock at the end could annihilate all of us. AlphaCat gave us probabilities of how likely each little change we made had in resulting in catastrophe. Erasing ourselves from existence in exchange for avoiding the war was considered "acceptable fallout."

I worked for psychopaths. Worse I was one of them. No, worse yet, it actually was starting to make sense. Without thinking, I scratched at my elbow. The location where I had recently had an IV placed. Would have. Didn't have. Not this body. That was the body in the future locked in a medical bay with probes attached to its skull.

"What are we doing here?" I asked Hwang as I stood up. This time I kept my balance.

"There is a school about six blocks from here," he said, "I am going to go there and give the principal of the school a flat tire."

"That's it?" I asked, "We're just giving someone a flat tire?"

He shook his head.

"Deadline is too close," he explained, "That's what I am doing. I need to delay him so he doesn't get home too early. Before you have time to do your job."

Hwang looked away from me as he reached behind his back and pulled a pistol out of his belt. He flipped it around and held it out to me, butt first.

"Sir," he said, "I know how this looks. But, when your memory comes back to you, you'll remember that we did draw straws for this job."

I took the gun from him without further comment.

"What??" I asked, staring at her in confusion as my barely awake brain had trouble comprehending Eve's words.

My beautiful, 6 months pregnant wife stared back at me, not sleepy at all. She doesn't sleep, she just cuddles with me at night when I sleep.

It was sweet and heartwarming. And even though her undead body is unable to produce body heat, I always felt warmer in her embrace.

But ever since she got pregnant there were some nights when she woke me up to go and grab something from the kitchen. I didn't blame her, I heard about pregnant women having weird cravings during pregnancy so I didn't blame her for it.

But due to the fact that she was a vampire, her cravings were a little more...special.

"Peanut butter, bring me smooth peanut butter from the kitchen." Her soft, gentle voice replied, repeating the same words she said to me when she woke me up.

"Oh." I let out as my brain finally became awake enough to comprehend the words she said to me.

I got up from the bed, went to the kitchen, grabbed the requested item, and went back to our bedroom. The whole ordeal took 1 minute if not less.

I handed her the Jar together with a butter knife and laid back down on the bed. I didn't even flinch when she started to spread the substance on my wrist and then sunk her teeth into it.

I got used to the bites a long time ago, and they were never truly painful to begin with, just a little bit uncomfortable.

"G'night." I murmured as I drifted back to sleep, letting her have her late-night snack.

"Good night, I love you." I heard her reply and felt her giving me a peck on the cheek before she sunk her teeth back into my peanut butter-covered wrist.

Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.

Reminders:

>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include "[Poem]" >* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail >* See Reality Fiction and Simple Prompts for stricter titles >* Be civil in any feedback and follow the rules

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When we first met, I was only supposed to get close enough to assassinate you. Now we’ve been dating for six months, and it’s not a ruse anymore, but you still don’t know my secret.

A caring demon and a worried angel. Late night date dinner between a couple who poses as humans to keep their relationship a secret.

[deleted]

I love your attention to detail regarding Melody. You can get a good sense of her from the details you chose to share.

That was a really intresting read! Sad, but pretty realistic!

[deleted]

Leprechauns?

Cool.

Mr. Norville And the Case of the Missing Uncle Part One:

Leila stepped out of the cab and into the dim glow of the only street light illuminating the dilapidated office building in front of her. It was late but her friend had said the man would be there. He was always there, waiting for the next mystery.

There was no buzzer. A beat up piece of two-by-four, propped open the door. Leila felt uneasy. She wasn’t the type of person to seek out help like this but her uncle was missing, possibly in danger and she needed answers. It’s not like she would be the one in the thick of it anyway. In the long run, she would provide the funds while someone else did all the work. Eventually, she would end up waiting by the phone for any updates.

Leila pushed her way through the door, making her way to the fourth floor. She found his office at the end of the hall. Letters peeling off the frosted glass read: N. Rogers, Private Investigator, She rapped on the door . The only answer was the low howl from a dog. She knocked again louder.

“Zoinks,” the startled man on the other side said. He cleared his throat. “It’s open.”

Leila stepped inside. A faint musty odor hung in the air while empty take-out containers–a few containing remnants of half-smoked joints– were haphazardly strewn around the room. The man lay face up on an empty desk in a wrinkled olive shirt and brown corduroy jeans, his bloodshot eyes stared up at the ceiling. An aging great dane looked at her curiously from a pallet on the floor.

Leila hesitated, “Mr. Shaggy?” She asked.

The man sat up, slowly dragging a hand down his face. “Norville,” he said. “No one calls me Shaggy anymore. Now, what can I do for you Miss–?”

“Jones. Leila Jones. My uncle is missing,” she said, laying a photo on the desk beside Norville, “And you’re going to find him.

Norville stared down at the photo, almost afraid to pick it up. The dog stood, tilting its head to examine the photo itself, a low yowl escaped its throat.

“I know Scoob,” Norville whispered. “But we can't.” Norville addressed Leila, “I’m sorry Miss Jones, we won’t accept this case but if you ever have another mystery that needs solving you know where to find me. I’ll be sitting on my desk, waiting for the next one.”

Leila knew that Norville and her uncle had a history. Years ago, along with two other friends, they had started Mystery Inc. A traveling crime-solving group that operated out of the back of a van. A few years after that a falling-out had occurred but Leila didn’t know the specifics.

“Please, Mr. Norville. I think something terrible has happened to him and no one will talk to me. I can pay you all up-front.” Leila said, grabbing the check book from her purse.

Scooby barked at Norville and then began a low growl. It was strange to Leila how they seemed to understand each other.

“They threw us to the curb, Scoob.” he said trying to reason with the old dog.

Scooby barked again and Norville threw up his hands in surrender. “Fine,” he finally said, “But you’re going to have to buy your own scooby snacks.” Norville turned to Leila. “Okay Miss Jones, Where was your Uncle Fred last seen?”

Leila exhaled in relief. “ The last place he was seen was on the Island of Grenada. He has a vacation home there.”

Norville snorted, “If only life could be so easy.” He grabbed an old baseball hat off the floor of his dingy office and Scooby followed him to the door. “Well, Miss Jones, Aren’t you coming?” he said looking back.

“What do you mean?”

“You know more about your Uncle’s dealings and whereabouts than I do and your help would be invaluable to solving the case. Plus, it’ll be nice having a partner again. At least for this one case.”

Scooby barked from the hallway.

“Like, you know what I mean Scoob.”

“Uh huh,” Scooby barked sarcastically from the hallway.

“Wait, did your dog just–” but Norville was already walking away from the office. Leila hurriedly shut the door behind her and clambered to keep up. “So, where are we going?” she asked, following the duo to an older model Honda parked in front of the building. The horn was missing from the steering wheel and old newspapers and trash littered the car.

“We’re going to the airport," Norville said, hopping in, "And I hope you're hungry because we’re stopping for some chow first.”

The car peeled off as Leila jumped into the back seat. Hope I'm not in over my head She thought as she met Mr. Norville's eyes in the rearview mirror.

To be continued…

[WC:800]

Trying my hand at writing mystery and I thought it would be fun to do it via SEUS and Scooby Doo! More parts to come. Feedback would be great! Thanks for reading.

As the woman started towards her front door, she heard the deadbolt unlock. She looked over her shoulder, wondering if she could catch a glimpse of the ghost again but she had no such luck. Shaking her head softly she grabbed her keys from the hook on the door.

“Are you coming with me?” She laughed, asking the question as a complete joke.

There was no audible answer. This didn’t bother Melody at all. She figured the ghost couldn’t follow her if she left the necklace behind. As she slipped her keys onto one of her fingers, so she could use her hand to unclasp the necklace. The moment her fingers touched the clasp the metal was hot and she yelped.

“Ouch! Okay listen here you mother fucker!” Melody turned away from the front door, hopeful the ghost was there. “I thank you for the rent but you really don’t have to come with me.”

The next thing Melody knew was the picture of her and her ex on the entrance table was on the floor. The glass had shattered completely. Pinching the bridge of her nose, Melody sighed heavily.

“You are being unreasonable… I can’t even see you! Fine, you can come with me. This is stupid.” Melody gave up. She would let the ghost have its way. It was easier than arguing with someone who couldn’t really communicate with her. “Let’s go.”

Melody turned back to the front door, her hand reaching out for the doorknob. At first she hesitated, perhaps she could wait to go to the antique store. She didn’t understand why a sudden rush of anxiety had overtaken her but she had to get over it. Taking a deep breath she opened the door, quickly grabbing her purse before she shut the door behind her. Turning around to lock the door there was a knock coming from within.

“You can’t be serious… Can’t you go through walls?” Melody asked exasperated.

Yet she still opened the door, waiting an ample amount of time for the ghost to walk out. She even tapped her foot while waiting. Hopeful to get this over with quickly. Once she was absolutely certain that the ghost was with her, she headed towards the stairs. Bounding down them rather quickly. Melody was a woman on a mission. Mostly to figure out what the silver platter was worth. She didn’t really need to find out who her ghostly roommate was just yet.

At the bottom of the stairs, Melody looked over her shoulder, as if to see if the ghost had kept up with her. Not that she could even see them. Melody rubbed her face softly.

“Right, I can’t see you and no one else can. Okay so I just have to pretend you aren’t here.” She muttered, mostly to herself.

It was a rather windy afternoon. Not that Melody minded. Her hair wasn’t exactly styled perfectly, it was in a messy bun afterall. Taking a moment to breath in the fresh air before she would undoubtedly have to deal with the stale air of the subway. It was either take the subway or walk to the only antique store she knew of. It wasn’t a far walk but she would rather take the subway, which was saying a lot.

Melody wasn’t exactly sure if taking a ghost on the subway was allowed, but perhaps it didn’t really matter. She didn’t know the ghost rule of law anyways. Melody had a million questions for the ghost but she didn’t know how to have the ghost communicate with her better. It was as if the ghost read her mind because one of her journals had fallen out of her bag. It was opened on a once blank page.

The page said. “𝕾𝖔𝖒𝖊 𝖕𝖊𝖔𝖕𝖑𝖊 𝖈𝖆𝖓 𝖘𝖊𝖊 𝖒𝖊.”

Melody picked up the journal reading what was written in beautiful calligraphy. She tilted her head slightly as she read the sentence again.

“You can write?”

“𝖄𝖊𝖘.” Was written into the journal.

“Okay, so why are you haunting my mom's necklace?”

“𝕴 𝖕𝖑𝖊𝖆𝖉 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖋𝖎𝖋𝖙𝖍.”

“You’re dead! You can’t plead the fifth.”

"𝕹𝖔 𝖈𝖔𝖒𝖒𝖊𝖓𝖙."

“Fine.” Melody sighed as she shoved her hands into her pockets. “Let’s go. It’s not a far walk to the subway station.”

Melody liked living by the subway but at the same time she hated living in the city. The truth was the only real reason she was staying at her shitty apartment was because of the ghost. Otherwise she would have moved back home. She didn’t like admitting the fact that the ghost made her feel less lonely. Sure she could have adopted a pet but Melody could barely keep herself alive, how could she keep a pet alive. Maybe it was some kind of twisted blessing, having the ghost of werewolf haunt her. She felt safe at home because of the ghost anyways.

Now that Melody realized the ghost was haunting her mothers necklace and not her apartment, she had a lot of things to consider. If she went home, and brought the ghost with her, would her mom be okay with it? If the ghost is haunting her mothers necklace, could that mean the ghost knew her mother well? Melody had never invited her mother to her apartment because of the ghost. Now that she knew that the ghost went everywhere with her it seemed her mother wasn’t in danger.

Melody noticed there was more writing in her journal and shook herself out of deep thought to read it.

“𝖄𝖔𝖚 𝖘𝖊𝖊𝖒 𝖉𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖗𝖆𝖈𝖙𝖊𝖉.”

“So?”

"𝖂𝖍𝖞?"

“I have a lot to think about now.”

"𝕬𝖙 𝖑𝖊𝖆𝖘𝖙 𝖇𝖊 𝖆𝖜𝖆𝖗𝖊 𝖔𝖋 𝖞𝖔𝖚𝖗 𝖘𝖚𝖗𝖗𝖔𝖚𝖓𝖉𝖎𝖓𝖌𝖘."

“I am!” Melody groaned as she put the journal away for a moment so she could get her wallet.

They had made it to the Turnstile. She pulled out her subway card and swiped it so she could get through. Melody expected the ghost to climb over the turnstile, honestly. Though she got a bit nervous because of the whole door thing. So she quickly swiped her card again, so the ghost could get through. Melody put her card back into her wallet and her wallet back into her bag. Pulling out her journal again she saw what was written now.

“𝖄𝖔𝖚 𝖉𝖎𝖉𝖓’𝖙 𝖍𝖆𝖛𝖊 𝖙𝖔 𝖘𝖜𝖎𝖕𝖊 𝖎𝖙. 𝕴 𝖜𝖆𝖘 𝖏𝖚𝖘𝖙 𝖋𝖚𝖈𝖐𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝖜𝖎𝖙𝖍 𝖞𝖔𝖚 𝖊𝖆𝖗𝖑𝖎𝖊𝖗. 𝕷𝖔𝖑.”

“You did not just l.o.l me.” Melody hissed softly.

She couldn’t believe this stupid ghost. Why did she even put up with this? She could have called a priest so many times, but no. She was lonely and wanted company. It was really like having a roommate. Melody was still completely surprised that the ghost was willing to pay rent.

​

(Part 2! May continue it more later because I am having fun writing it.)

{All my characters are my own. All my writing is rough and unedited. I am trying to practice to get myself back into writing my novel. Constructive criticism always welcomed.)

Group of housemates leave for a road trip leaving one friend behind because he was caught up with something. A girl, one of the other housemates, just returned home from her own trip and crashed in bed the moment she got out. Unaware of the other guy being at home, she woke up later that night to sounds in the kitchen but was shocked to turn on the lights and find the guy munching on food half naked in his boxer shorts.

Based on a true story. I want to see how close you can get lol

Hold on let me explain better, there “heat” ray is colder than the natural temp of earth thus cooling the parts they hit down.

Right, gotcha. It was entertaining anyway, just got a little lost lol. One more question, the most important one ever, more important, even, than what the meaning of life is...

​

Why did the tea have to taste horrible? XD

Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.

Reminders:

>* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include "[Poem]" >* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail >* See Reality Fiction and Simple Prompts for stricter titles >* Be civil in any feedback and follow the rules

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Yes, essentially. They have a way (as yet undescribed) where they can project minds into the past. But not physical objects. So, they just take control of people and use their bodies like remote control puppets and use them to influence events.

The way I was thinking about how this would work to avoid paradoxes they are picking people who are about to die so that anything they do will remain a mystery. Why did Jim suddenly jump in a car, drive half way across the country, and sucker punch a teenager sending the kid to the hospital? We'll never know because Jim died a few hours later in a house fire. That sort of thing. People who disappear or do weird stuff just before they die may have had a time traveler hijacking them.

And elven man and a dwaven woman trying to maintain their race's rivalry despite working together at a restaurant. Everyone else thinks they're flirting.

The two men walked side by side. They were just barely far enough apart not to draw undue stares, but their strides fell into a perfect rhythm of easy familiarity.

“So? How was it?” asked Ashley, the sandy-haired one.

“How was what?” asked Jack, taking a long drag on his cigarette.

“What do you think? Viet Nam,” Ashley said, dragging out the name.

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“That bad, huh?”

“How were things here?” Jack asked, his tone softening. “With your father?”

“How were things here?” Ashley repeated. “How things here were was, you need to tell me about Vietnam. So I know what to expect when I get there.”

Jack stopped mid-stride in the middle of the path. Ashley took one inadvertent step ahead of him, then turned and took another deliberate step over. “So?” he asked. “Are you gonna tell me or what?”

“Your father can’t make you-“ Jack started.

“Make me nothing, there’s a draft, haven’t you heard,” Ashley cut him off.

“Draft, hell,” Jack’s voice grew louder. “With your family’s money-!”

“Lower your goddamn voice,” Ashley growled, leaning in for a moment before straightening up and sliding his hands into the pockets of his pants. “There won’t be any family money if I don’t do this, don’t you see? Not for me.”

“Then to hell with your family’s money. We don’t need it.”

“We?” Ashley asked. He seemed to lean back for a moment, and then slowly pivoted on his heels and started walking again, putting distance between him and Jack.

Jack tossed his cigarette on the ground, stomped on it once, and followed. “Yes, we,” he said, quieter now, catching up. “Like we talked about before.”

“We were kids,” Ashley said casually, not looking at Jack.

“Kids hell, you meant it. And so did I.”

“And what about the rest of the world, huh?” Ashley started walking faster now, eyes looking somewhere above the horizon.

“I’m not afraid of the rest of the world. Especially not anymore. Are you so afraid?”

“Yes!” Ashley stopped and spun around so fast that Jack nearly collided with him. “Of course I am.” There were tears at the corner of his eyes now. “And if you’re not, then you came back from war even dumber than when you left.”

Their faces were inches apart now. “I love you,” said Jack, his voice low and certain. “I still love you.”

Ashley seemed to sway in place, his face approaching Jack’s, then suddenly pulling away, then jerking back. Jack leaned in to kiss him, and at that Ashley did pull away with a yelp. Then he turned quickly and started to walk down the path, faster, arms pumping like he was running away. This time, Jack didn’t chase him.

Nearly ten years after high school graduation a guy, thinking about the what ifs in his life, goes fuck it and messages his high school crush on FB messenger to ask her out and confess he liked her back then. The problem is they have not talked since senior year of high school and even back in school they didn't really interact much on account of the guy's shyness even though the girl obviously liked him and said hi to him and tried to engage him in conversation.

Tl;Dr : dude msg his hs crush ten years later out of the blue and asks her out

This story reminds me of the movie Freejack with Emilio Estevez and Mick Jagger. Not quite the same, but definitely good! I want to hear what happens next!

A boy and a girl on their first date. But we are in a far away future when 18, both genders will be sent to war in space. Cities on earth are almost desert, mostly children and baby sitter robots.