Favourite prompts? I have three:

The first prompt I wrote on

The last prompt I wrote on

And the 3rd is the next prompt to inspire the story not yet written.

(Honourable mention goes, of course, to the several hundred prompts between the first and last)

Hey - I made this! https://www.reddit.com/r/shortStoriesByChris/ <- Hopefully this is the right thing. Just got to work out how to share stories to it :)

(Sorry changed the prompt a bit)

There's this....game that they play. Centered around a resort that gets enough rich bastards flowing through it that they've learned to turn a blind eye to quite nearly everything going on inside it. They found the place when they were still New, still getting used to the boredom that follows immortals around, hanging over them like a new form of death. They were loyal to each other, of course they were, but when you are promised eternity together, your eye begins to wander. The first time he brought a mortal into their bed she hadn't been angry, more contemplative. They'd left the resort that same night and took a good ten year break together in the countryside of France. Eventually though, they returned and with a new game in mind to spice up their ever lasting lives.

They'd spot out a mortal together, send in one of them to garner their attention before swooping in together. They'd play with the mortal for a while and then they'd let them go. Eventually, this too began to bore them. As is the case for immortals. So they found a new game. They took to arriving at the resort separately, individually taking a mortal and enjoying them for a while before returning to each other again. At first only a week, then a week grew into a month which turned into months and eventually a year. They'd always return to each other's arm though, ready to share all that they had done and learned. One year stretched into three and before he could blink they had been apart for near fifty years.

He'd already finished with his last fling, a paltry thing that didn't entertain him nearly as long as he thought it would. He had come down to the beaches of the resort to search for his next when he saw her. His love, his other half. The being he swore to spend eternity with and she looked just as beautiful as the day he'd first met her, all those thousands of years ago. A cunning grin grew on his face as he approached her. After all, absence makes the heart grow fonder.

I clink my red-and-white striped straw against the side of my half-empty margarita. My brain might just be fuzzy, but I remember it all so well. It's the kind of flashback you'd play over in the bath or in your head when you can't sleep at night.

It was a sweet summer day, and I was that ridiculous light pink pantsuit with the bulky belt. He had bright green eyes, a deep olive tan and a sleeveless blue shirt. I was laughing and fell out of the hammock and twisted my ankle. Then in the hospital waiting room...The eyes that stared at me now with a piercing quality like the sterile end of a needle.

From across the bar, he made his way over to me, just as young as he'd been 50 years ago. And I, the same. It didn't make sense.

"Hello, Tuck," I called out, barely recognizing my own soft voice. He smirked at the inside joke but gave me a wary look. I knew what he'd meant. I'd spent my entire life-lives?-creating fake identities and wandering around having lonely island beach flings.

"You look familiar," he said, needle-eyes shining. He's dressed professionally in a black suit, as if someone like us could actually be on a business trip. I felt my nails dig into my straw with uncertainty. Was this really a good thing? Did he actually not remember me? Had he woken up one morning and never lived past it just as I had? Had he lived hiding in his basements until he watched his own parents die-and then stole their money for a grand cruise to never come back from?

"Maybe we met a long time ago," I finally awkwardly blurt out. He looks at me. Oh, yeah. He definitely knows. "So you too, huh?" I joke, trying to ease the tension. That's the second worst joke I've made today, falling right behind Tuck Everlasting. It must be the margarita.

"Do you want to go on a walk and talk about this?"

"Okay." I slap a fiver on my table and walk out, slamming my broken flip-flop with every step. Flop. Flop. Flop. The ocean, a frothy navy blue like the Hope Diamond expands out from the sea-side bar, a picturesque image of beach towels and kids in plastic donuts and sand-covered noses running around. It should be perfect.

Once we were further along the beach, people thinned out more and more. The sandbar became smaller and a wooded area was thick with humidity and tall trees. I felt prepared to ask more questions. "!972?"

He nodded. "What's your name again?"

"Um, at the time...Cynthia Roberts. But now it's Margo Hopkins."

"I mean, your real name."

The sun is burning my skin. I wish I wore a long-sleeved shirt. "Oh, uh..." The name is so unfamiliar to me now, literally a past life. We've stopped walking now and are standing, shiny brown oxfords and broken flip-flops, in the damp edge of the sand. But it was one that once belonged to me, the name that I signed in cursive on my high school diploma and that my teachers called me and my grandma as she curled my hair into big hot rollers. "Bonnie."

Bonnie.

"Bonnie," he says. My throat hurts. My skin burns. Oh, no, not now. I can't cry right now.

"What's your-what's your name?"

He shakes his head. "I don't even remember."

"But you remember me. The broken ankle?"

"It's all deja-vu, Bonnie. But you're not the only one terminally, um, affected. I've been travelling...looking for others. I guess you could say I'm a hiring manager. We're all looking for ways to make a better life. I've got a friend here. He'll get you a new ID and take us back. We're based in London."

"So you're giving me a...business proposal?" No, no. Keep blinking. Can't cry. Bonnie.

"Not a proposal. Not a choice. We're timeless, Bonnie. But we're always out of time. I'll see you at four AM, on the dot, outside of the Dunkin'."

"Hey, you never know the people that hang outside of Dunkin'!" I laugh loudly, but it's more anguished than finding anything remotely funny. The Nameless Man just shakes his head as he walks away.

I try to focus on anything else on the long walk back to my humble beach abode-a vintage RV I’ve spent the past sixty years in, give or take. It’s not bad: in the back I have a mattress and a few blankets, my ever-changing wardrobe tucked in a purple suitcase besides it and a table, small fridge and bright blue couch. On the fridge I’ve hung unidentifiable portions of passed lives I’ve lived: post cards from small tropical towns, concert wristbands little gifts from last lovers never lasting more than a summer and a highlighted quote ripped out a page of Tuck Everlasting: “We just are, we just be, like rocks beside the road.” Taped around it are tiny bits of the only life that ever really mattered to me though, a life that once completely belonged to me: Bonnie. Five-year-old me smiled in a black-and-white camera back at the photo. I told people who stayed over it was a picture of my great aunt-one that quite resembled me in her youth. Another birthday card was taped next to it from my best friend, Mary: Happy 20th Birthday, Darling. Time To Look Into Nursing Homes! It was all so bittersweet now, the last birthday I’d ever had. I stared back at the fridge with sweaty palms. 4 AM couldn’t come sooner.

I woke up to my alarm drenched in sweat. I had barely slept and now had a slight headache. After chugging down three cups of cold black coffee which burned my throat with bitterness, I grabbed a dark windbreaker and wandered outside.

The beach was weirdly quiet except for the sounds of the waves as they crashed endlessly against the now cool sand and the smell of salt and sunscreen lingered in the air. The sand looked grey and lifeless in the pale moonlight. I saw the figure of The Nameless Man before he saw me. He was standing next to another tall lanky figure, both in full tuxedos with bright red ties. The parking lot was dark and empty except for a few bushes and a beat down green Ford which sits next to them parked crookedly next to the empty drive-through.

“Hi,” The Nameless Man said to me, and I snorted at the informality of his greeting. As I got closer, I got a strange promotion as he watched me. He leaned in giving me a kiss on the lips, hard. I felt his dull lips brush mine in a way that was once invigorating but now felt like a dream or perhaps a nightmare I was reliving. His skin was cold and lifeless as it brushed mine-like we were just two stone statues in the pose of lovers. I drew back, inhaling sharply. It wasn’t the '70s anymore. He didn’t have a miniature guitar or wide-framed sunglasses and we didn’t laugh in the way that could light up a room. We weren't hopeful. “

I’m sorry. I can’t do this, “ I told him. The other man watched us awkwardly.

“You did once,” he argued, but he sounded unsurprised of my response and not too sure of himself at any rate. The eyes pierced through me once again like a knife. “

You don’t get it. Let’s just go to England and hope something changes. I know your name, Ernest. I always knew.” His name echoed through the parking lot. Bullets fired. “We just are,” I whispered softer. “We just be.”

An easy way to improve this is to space each quote. If you wrote this on mobile, you need to “enter” twice for the space to appear for some reason.

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

&#127381; New Here? &#9999; Writing Help? &#128226; News &#128172; Discord

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

Oh I see! Well I think it would be rather boring - I show up a few times a year - somewhere between the seasons and father Christmas !! I will look into setting one up though, just as soon as I've worked out how to write a paragraph without the word "moment" appearing three times!!! (Still cringing)

What u/Riker3946 said; it makes it easy to follow stories from certain people. I ask whenever I see a writing style I enjoy and hope to see more from the same person.

Our eyes met, accidentally, it seemed. She was instead staring right past me. At my Cheshire....thing. Which was, for the first time, blinking. And not grinning at all.

And then our horrors were embracing each other. And through whispers that sounded like a chorus of last breaths and felt like insects digging beneath our skin, they were....catching up on old times?

They caught us staring, and laughed.

"I don't know either." She said, before I could ask.

"I'm not looking for a meet cute." I said, to assure her. But also to assure myself.

She shared her drink with me. Not the coffee. The beer she kept in her purse for such emergencies. "Did we just introduce the keymaster to the gatekeeper?"

"Probably. The human race is doomed."

"Beats all the other ways we were doomed." She paused. Took a moment to eye me, and then grabbed her keychain tight. "Do you want to fuck?"

Nope. I wanted to wake up, and have the world make sense again. "Do you?"

"I have no idea. But I don't want to think about any of this."

"Damn, you're smooth."

"Yeah, let's both be smooth, and get out of here while we can..."

I hadn't seen them. The others. Suddenly, every shadow had teeth. And not a single warm body in the coffee shop had only one.

We ran.

I don't know for how long.

And some days, I think we never stopped.

Meanwhile, back at the gathering of demons:

"You were right. It's more fun to just let them scare themselves." Said one impossible smile, while all her secret smiles laughed.

"This is just the beginning. We're going to church tomorrow - don't ask, it takes too long to explain. You'll understand when you see their reaction."

"No, I believe you. They're humans, after all. Of course they were always going to end the world." She saw her grin reflected in their terrified eyes, and was flattered. "I just thought they'd make us work for it."

"Well, it's not easy for me to be on my best behavior..." He teased. "Maybe you've gone soft?"

She had to fight back the sudden temptation to eat someone. "Sadist."

"You love it."

"Of course I love it. It's why I married you, stupid. At least 27 times. Also, heads up, I think we've just been promoted."

The few humans who remained had fallen to their knees, and were, one by one...bowing. And one among them asked the question that was on all their minds. "Are you a God?"

Even the demons weren't quite sure.

Some of the writers on here have their own subreddit showing all their stories.

[removed]

I second this. I really enjoyed your take.

I would recommend starting a new paragraph when a different character starts talking. Having two character's dialog tags right next to each other can make the story a little harder to parse.

Wow.

"For the last time, during the day I'm a centaur, at night I'm a vampire, at the full moon I'm a werewolf, when I'm in water I'm a merman, during the hottest day I'm a dragon and at the coldest night I'm a yeti."

"Mmmhmm." You didn't ask for his life story. Why is he telling you this?

He looks at you in mild disbelief and squeezes back out of his booth. You hope to God he's house trained. "See? I'm a Centaur right now. I just spent the entire night as a vampire and frankly I'm exhausted." He groans and slides back into the booth. "I didn't ask for this. Nobody would ask for this"

"I certainly didn't." You mutter under your breath. "Listen, sugar. I know you're going through a lot, but this isn't the time, here isn't the place and I'm certainly not the person. I only need on piece of information from you, and only one," You hold up the half empty pot of coffee. It's hot and strong and you almost know the answer anyways. "Do you want more coffee.

The centaur/vampire/werewolf/merman/ dragon/yeti held out his coffee cup. You fill it up and roll your eyes.

He thanks you and takes a deep sip. You wipe the table off and nod.

"I'll be right out with your eggs and bacon. Please try to remember this is a Dennys, not a therapist." You warn as you check on the other patrons. centaur/vampire/werewolf/merman/ dragon/yeti better tip 20% because you do not get paid enough for this.

[removed]

Aww, I bet it was always smiling because it was trying to be friendly and non-threatening.

That was really great, NotBob. I have a dumb grin now, too.

I'll be honest - I don't know what that is. I just show up on this subreddit from time to time and write comments on prompts I like!!

Endgame Terraria be like

A while back when everyone was obsessed with those hyperrealistic cake videos there was a prompt about a knife which turns everything it cuts into cake. Weird as it sounds I didn't make the connection to the trend and thought the prompt was about a delightfully weird magic item. I still wish I could see it that way

Thank you for this, it's beautiful. Saved

No need. The og is funnier, imo

So dreamy and mesmerizing

Would be nice to see a part two?

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

&#127381; New Here? &#9999; Writing Help? &#128226; News &#128172; Discord

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.