ENG 1141: Intro to Creative Writing, Fall 2020

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  • Participation Activity, Session 15: Flash Fiction Brainstorming!
  • #68883

    Jennifer Sears
    Participant

    Use the instructions on the To Do List to brainstorm a new flash fiction:

    #68895

    Dahyanerra
    Participant

    FLASH FICTION: IRRISPONSIBELE MAN

    The phone rang at Grandma’s house today this morning. I was listening to her talk when she sounded very frustrated. “How could you lose your keys again?” I listened and shook my head, as I watched my cousin walk into the living room looking through the couches for the keys. My brother can be very irresponsible at times and yet he thinks joining the army will help. I can’t see myself giving my life over to the navy and not being sure of what I want to do in life. Last night, as he goes to work my father walks downstairs and see’s my brother’s ID on the ground. This morning before we leave, I see the ID and all his other cards tied up under a rubber band. I shake my head again, but how many times can he lose such important things? OH, boy do I fear for the irresponsible man!

    #68897

    Lina
    Participant

    Something Needed, Not Wanted

    It was the night before the school dance and everything was perfect up until this moment. I was known for being a straight-A student, I always volunteered, participated in extra-curricular activities in my school, and supported everything my loved ones were doing. My step sister and I have had a difficult time becoming close, after two years of living in the same house I never really understood what was the issue and I thought maybe if there was an issue it would so way in due time. My stepsister was quieter and reserved in the house than she would be outside, my parent found it kind of shocking that my sister was popular in school she did not participate in as many things as I did but she really enjoyed cheerleading and fashion. Both meant everything to her and unlike me, people were always fascinated by her beauty she looks like a girl straight from a teen vogue magazine.
    In my mind, she had everything going for her I had things going for myself as well we went to the same high school we could have been the ultimate duo but she felt otherwise. My mom wanted to do some last-minute shopping for the dance I still hadn’t found a dress yet so time was crucial, I never really cared to wear a fancy dress to the dance but my mom insisted since the school was announcing Burkley high school student of the year and I and my stepsisters were both running. Winning would mean so much to me the winner gets to study abroad and I felt like I deserved it with all my hard work and acts of service I thought It would be nice to travel to France and see what the world has to offer also it would look great on my application applying to some of the top schools I had already had in mind. My stepsister wanted to go because she would be going to study fashion after graduation and saw it as a great opportunity being that Paris is Frances’s fashion capital.
    Upon our arrival at the dress shop, I found this dress not quite like anything I had ever seen and I had to get. As we arrived home I ran upstairs to my room to try on my dress and it was perfect I felt even more confident that I would win. My step-sister for the first time came in to see me try on my dress and she gave me a hug, she hoped that if she didn’t win that she would be happy for me. I was in complete shock we shared a hug and asked if I wanted to hang out with her in her room after dinner. Dinner was amazing we all laughed and shared stories it was great. Mom and stepdad had to catch a flight so this night was very memorable. My sister invited me upstairs to hang out and talk about the dance tomorrow we drank a lot. I knew that we shouldn’t have because we were both only 17 years old but it felt right because we got to bond. Shortly after I couldn’t move, my body felt stuck I watch my eyes close slowly, I woke up and it was already 5:50 pm my dress was gone and I was barely ready.
    In a short amount of time and ran to the school building third-floor bathroom to finish getting ready and there she was my sister wearing the dress I was enraged we began to fight and I pushed her head onto the sink she quickly collapsed falling to the ground with blood coming from her forehead. I left her with no remorse for my actions I attended the dance without anyone getting a hint of what happened, I ended up winning that night but the next morning my stepsister was found she never returned home.

    #68900

    Jason Liu
    Participant

    The Mysterious Night

    It was late at night, dark in the school hallways. I was with my friend John because we had heard about a mysterious creature that wanders around in the old building of our school. The creature was said to have come from the future. Then suddenly, a distant scream. “What was that?” I asked as John continued to look around for any clues. “John, did you hear that?” John replies, “No, I don’t hear anything. Are you sure it wasn’t just the wind?” “Yeah, maybe I just heard the wind.” We continue to search around in the old school building. Then I heard it again, the same scream from down the hallway. “John, are you sure you didn’t hear that?” “Well, I’ve only heard you panicking about something. Are you sure you’re alright? Take a deep breath, and drink some water. It’ll help you relieve some stress.” I took a deep breath, gathered myself and drank some water. “Maybe I hadn’t gotten enough sleep last night.” “Yeah, that could be it. Let’s keep searching, maybe whatever you’re hearing is a sign that we’re getting closer.” We continue searching for another 15 minutes, only to find nothing. Then, it happened. The floors were cracking beneath us, and John didn’t move an inch. He seemed as if he was floating in air, and I was falling down and deep into a dark abyss. I saw a lot of feint memories, and then I hit the bottom. As soon as I hit the bottom, I immediately jumped out of my bed, dazed and frightened. “What the hell just happened?” I looked at my phone for the time. It was 2:19 AM. “Whatever that was, I hope it’s not real.” I went back into bed and attempted to fall asleep. That’s when my phone buzzed, and a notification from John.

    #68901

    Steven Bachoo
    Participant

    Stressed and Anxiety:

    I woke up this morning after last night. I was dealing with a personal matter. Midterms are approaching now and it’s a lot to take in. I’m trying to get adjusted to it and cannot do anything to stop myself from getting stressed out all the time. Every time when I look at my computer I feel like I wanna destroy my computer with all the work I have to do. Even then I try to take one day at a time but it still doesn’t help my situation. The reason is because the work is always piling up all the time. Every time I get stressed out then I blank out with what I have to study. My parents always tell me that I get stressed out all the time.

    #68902

    thegreat1
    Participant

    IT stared at me. IT’s eyes ever so menacing. If looks could kill, I would be on the floor, gasping for my last breath. IT was coming towards me. IT intended to abuse, hurt, destroy me. I thought about what I should do. There were many options. I could simply run. However, I would be caught. Now that I think about it, every other option was null to me. It would have the same result. All except one. Really, it was the perfect option for me to escape it. It would involve blood, but anything to get out alive would be great.

    Looking back, the signs were there at the very start. At first, IT was sweet, kind, and IT seemed like someone that would make for a great lifelong companion. We were together for a long while, and things were seemingly straight out of a fairytale. I still remember the night I came home, tired as though I had spent the day picking up boulders. I arrived, and IT had a table full of food already prepared. Turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, my favorite hallmarks of Thanksgiving. I felt like the luckiest woman in the world.

    It did not take long for things to change. IT started to become a lot more distant. A lot more meaner. IT would started with it being annoyed by little things that I did. Stayed out too late?. IT had a problem with that. Visited family? IT had a problem with that. Had friends? IT had a problem with that. Especially having any male friends. Overtime, it felt as though it wanted me as his property. Only IT can have me, and no one else.

    Of course, when someone thinks they own property, they think they can do anything they want. First, it was shoves, then punches. It turned into assault whenever IT felt like doing that. Whenever IT was angry, IT would take it out on me. The substance IT drank didn’t make things any better. It only made the beatings worse. It was shocking that I could tell the difference between a alcohol influenced beating, and a non alcohol influenced beating. I don’t know what kind of dark magic overtook it. I know that doing this isn’t a new thing for IT.

    I heard a thing or two from some friends. IT had done this to other women in the past. Much more brutally if I had to admit. There were rumors that IT was the preparator of a murder, the victim being a former lover of IT who wanted to press charges. I have no idea if that is true, but it wouldn’t be surprising. Would I be next? Would I be it’s next victim? These thoughts didn’t go away when IT bought a gun. IT said it was for protection. I knew that was lie. It was only a matter of time.

    I was not going to be the next victim, I thought to myself. I looked directly at the gun. I did not consider IT a person. IT was a monster. It caused so much pain for me, my friends, and my family. I grabbed it, and pointed it at IT. IT didn’t care. IT felt like IT was invincible. I could barely hold it. Scared for my life. I pulled the trigger. I was not a marksman, but anger never missed a shot.

    • This reply was modified 3 years, 5 months ago by thegreat1.
    #68907

    RonaldF
    Participant

    Very Special Days

    It was a very hot day in the Summer, I hear many cars and people rushing. As I leave our house, I am greeted by a lot of my family members. A special occasion once again. Everyone is together and lively. Throughout the day, there’s food and many activities. Small groups are made within a big party. Some try to have fun, while others talk about their achievements and hardships. After a couple of hours, games are started. I start to feel nervous and excited at the same time. I get put into a team with only one objective, that is to win! The games are played to have fun, but some has prizes which makes everyone become too competitive. As I play, sometimes I start to wonder if it’s even worth it. My cousins start to blame me If I were to perform badly, they would say things like, “Why are you not trying? Just quit.” It makes you question the purpose of such occasion. Growing up, it makes me wonder what would have happened if I didn’t attend those events? Will I still be the same person I am today? Maybe these kinds of thoughts are never meant to be answered.

    #68908

    Oscar Ramirez
    Participant

    The Final Breath

    When I told you the news you though it was unreal, but here I am looking down at you from the stars. You gave me this cassette tape player to record my adventures for you can have as a present when I come back. The mission was simple at first, to just monitor the atmosphere from where we stand. The team and I though we will be back before we know it but of course for me, my luck is never in my favor. When we got the transmission from the earth team and now that the president was involved, I knew that it was serious, all I could think about was you.

    The team was nervous at first, but someone had to be in good spirit to push through, I had to be able to come back to you at any cost. Each day was misery, and none stop working with no sense of time, but we had to keep going to find the answers the people back home needed from us. Through all this I could only wonder what you are going through, I am trying my best just you wait, I will come home.

    Months pass, the crew cannot handle the pressure, deep down we all know we are running out of time, back home the only thing we got was bad news at this point, it was only a simple mission. After lasting a few more days unfortunately our communication cut off from the Earth team, it was strange cause we check on it frequently for problems but we discover nothing yet, so we are left stranded and in the dark of this black void without any updates until we can manage to find and fix the issue, you must be so worry, I am so sorry.

    We have not gotten any word from back home ever since we got cut off, we lost power to the ship and mostly nothing works now, our rations are gone we are all running on empty stomachs and the thirst get stronger by the minute, and that is starting to make everyone freak out. No one is coming for us; It is hard to accept the fact that its never going to happen, I think they forget about us. But you will never forget about me, right? you are all I have left in this world, keep praying for my return, I will find a way.

    You will never believe what happen today, I woke up to an empty ship and a letter by the crew. Supposedly they all collectively came to the idea of ending their suffering, but they did not have the guts to tell me just to protect me from the truth. But that is not the worst part if you can believe it, they also were hiding the fact that before the communication cut off there was a final message saying that Earths atmosphere has become extremely polluted and intoxicated that the Earth is uninhabitable to live on. That would mean, oh god, my sweet baby girl.

    Its been almost a year since I left Earth, we have been out of touch for so long. All this time While I was fighting to find a way back home to you, you were gone already from this world. To think that you went through all that with the hopes that your daddy was on a mission to save the world, only to not come back in the moment when you needed me the most. Oh, my sweet baby girl to think I have failed you in the biggest way possible. Baby girl with my last ounce of strength I just wanted to tell you that I gave it my all, I hope you can be proud of your old man for trying. I’m tired baby girl, I’m going to sleep for a moment but with this, final breath, I want to say “I…Love…You….Emma”.

    #68909

    Jing
    Participant

    Piano

    The old man stood in front of the window and looked at the piano in it. It was the fourth time this week that he had stopped in this instrument store with a smile on his battered face. He wore a rusty medal on his chest and a ring on his ring finger. While I was still observing the old man, an old lady came to talk to him. The old woman asked, “I meet you at this store every time I pass this street. Are you a pianist ?”
    The old man cleared his throat and replied hoarsely, “I am not, but my wife was. She used to teach me a little bit before I went to the war.”
    “Well, she must be very good at it.”
    “Yes, she was. I loved to listen to her playing, but I never got a chance to do that anymore.” the old man sighed, glancing at the empty street. “Then I went to the war for 8 years. It was an accident that she thought I died. They said she could not stand living alone in our house so she moved to another city.”
    “I am sorry to hear that. My husband died in the war, too, so I know that feeling.”
    The old man started to look at the lady up and down. “She got gray eyes just like you,” he said, “and she always wore a burgundy dress just like you.”
    “Do you really like the piano?” The old lady asked. “If you do, I can sell you mine at a much lower price than this one.”
    “You play the piano as well? I would really appreciate it.”
    I couldn’t hear the rest of the conversation clearly because they were leaving. However, I’ve never seen that old man since that day. The last image in my mind about these two people was the old man showing the old lady his ring.

    #68910

    DanelCabrera2
    Participant

    The Sweepers

    “Just another day at the library, right Lev?”

    The young boy said as he carries his adult broom over his shoulder, turning his head and looks up at his giant friend with a cheerful grin. A massive snake that is 10 times the boy’s size, shakes its head to the boy’s response with its eyes closed. Knowing what a disaster their last cleaning session was.

    “Don’t worry buddy. This time, we got this!”

    The boy posed with his heavy broom with it pointing straight to the air with passion and determination, then later losing his balance due to its weight. Falling onto his bottom with a shriek. Lev placed its tail on their face with a look of disappointment. Lev helped the boy stand up, dusted him off and shoved him forward to get things started.

    “Hehe… sorry”

    They began to clean up the dusty library. Making sure that every corner, with the boy clearing every shelf on the lower section, and with the help of Lev by the boy climbing on its head, lifting him up, clearing the upper regions of the library.

    “Come on Lev, we could do this before master shows up! And then we show her how good we clean. Right in her stupid face!”

    Lev grin with a couple of licks to show its own determination and began speeding up around the library. This caught the boy by surprise and lost his footing. Lev quickly grabbed the boy’s broom while the boy himself was hanging on for dear life. He. Did. Not. Except. This. To. Happen.

    “WHOOOOOAAAAAA!!! LEV SLOOOW DOOOWN BUUUDDY!!”

    The snake ignored him and was brushing and sweeping like an OCD patient with a shot of sugar shot down its veins. Not realizing the damage it might cause, it starts hitting the shelfs and ramming the tables on its wake. It was at a point where the shelfs might get toppled over each other.

    “NOOOO!!!”

    The boy yelled in shock and fear. He must think fast before Lev almost destroys the master’s library. He quickly poked Lev’s eye with his finger, which… yes it stopped Lev, but made Lev a bit… crazy with pain. Lev shut it eyes, crashed against a wall in front of it and rolled on the floor in agony. The boy landed on the floor where a couple of books, which cushion his fall and was knocked unconscious. A few hours have passed, and the boy wakes up to look and see the entire library. Well… there goes their promise.

    “Uhhh oh….”

    The boy gets up and sees that Lev was also knocked out cold. He goes to help Lev but remembers what time it was when he looked out the window. He tried his best to push and hide Lev, but he was too heavy to move. He sat down and scratched his head intensely, trying to thing where he can hide Lev. Then a light bulb sparked in his mind and started to get to work.

    “Come on… all most there. Aaaaand done!”

    As the boy was finished, the master opened the door when he heard a noise coming from the room. She gasped.

    “My… MY LIBRAAAARY!!!!”
    Cried the master as she watched her precious library in shambles. He looked around on how much of a mess there was. Then her senses were shot up and were focused on the boy.

    “ANGEEEELLOOOOOOOOO!!!!”

    Then Angelo turns around and looks at his master.

    “Uhh poop…”

    #68911

    Hernan Marquez
    Participant

    Stressful times

    Life has not always been easy. As you start to mature, you realize how real it gets, you start to realize your responsibilities. One morning, I look at the time and its 7:30 am. I don’t know what to think or feel. All I know is I have to rush to work before I miss my train. I start to change, but I question myself, what is my purpose? Why do I feel so uneasy? As I arrive to work, I already wanted to leave. Working as a busser has made me feel terrible both physically and mentally. It was such a big place and mornings were the busiest times. I try to enjoy my time but in reality, I hate the place. I start to acknowledge how my co workers feel about being in the restaurant for long hours. Do they feel miserable like me? Am I just an anxious person? It has been almost a year here and I feel down about myself every time I have to check up on customers, clean plates, and set up tables, but it was necessary in order to pay bills and help my parents with rent. I miss being a kid, when I had no worries and responsibilities.

    #68912

    Andy Escobedo
    Participant

    Everyone Dies in their Nightmares

    Was I Scared? Yes,…, on the floor looking at the ceiling of the warehouse. It’s empty, dark and the only lights I see are from the lamppost, illuminating the lights from outside. my mouth taped shut and my limbs are restrained from being tied. I hear the sound of footsteps echoing from a distance getting closer. I rolled around and lifted my head to see this shadow figure walking slowly towards me.

    Muffling and struggling to break free, the footsteps stopped and the shadow figure finally revealed itself and crouched down staring at my frightened eyes. Surprised that my kidnapper was the girl I talked to. Two weeks ago she looked clueless and she asked me to help her find her new apartment. Seeing that it was the same address as mine I helped her locate the apartment but I was deceived she wasn’t the sweet innocent girl. She ripped the tape from my mouth.

    “Juliet,… What do you want from me? I’m a loser. I dropped out of college. My family is dead. I’m alone. I haven’t found a stable job in weeks. I lock myself inside my apartment. I’m scared of socializing. I’m weak Juliet please stop, I’m nothing.” I pleaded

    “Noah you are not like them, you see I was sent here to find you.”

    “What do you mean to find me? I’m nobody, this must be a mistake, you have the wrong person.”

    “You don’t get it. Noah, there was a bounty on your head for $35 trillion by the secret society. There is something you are hiding that’s more valuable than the national debt of America.”

    “I don’t know what you talking about I’m a regular person please believe me”

    Juliet cuts the rope from my hands

    “Thank you for understanding I’m innocence”

    She grabs my left arm and tears it out. I’m screaming in pain and crying for help. I looked at my severed arm. I saw it bleeding, blood on my sweater, this agony my mind crumbled. I looked up.

    “You are lucky that I found you, Noah. Your fate would have been much worse if you were found out by another organization. but I do smell the stench of a ….. So tell me, what are you?” As she stomps on my chest

    Perhaps my fractured rib cage prevents me from speaking, however, I too would also want to know who I am?

    “I don’t know what I am but perhaps-”

    I was pierced right through my heart losing consciousness, I look at her coughing blood

    ” but perhaps we share the same feelings”

    she closed her eyes and reopen them furiously with a red pupil
    “We aren’t the same” she replied

    #68913

    fahamida
    Participant

    The Huntress

    For fear of the huntress, the city closed like an eye. Only my window stayed open, because, as a foreigner, I didn’t know better. In the morning, poor children would scrub the stains from the roofs. Now the rain-dark head came down and rested on the dome of the embassy.

    The moon shed feathers of light as if molting. In the morning the eaves would drip with pinkish foam. A stench of fur came in at the window. I went to slam it shut, but instead, I stood there, fingers gripping the edge of the frame. I closed my eyes in the searching heat. All over the city, people were taking shelter in their cellars and under their beds. Once there were two children and they were the only ones on their block who kept the passion for monsters after they grew up.

    The only ones. Why should that be? Our dad used to tell us stories of camel herding. He would scare us by mimicking the sound of a lion. This lion didn’t sound like any lion from movies or games or anything. It had a whining hunger. It was a tenor lion.

    Her prowler’s voice, surprisingly high and small. Like a question. All over the city people were covering their heads. The leaves outside my window shrank and smoked. Exiles and insomniacs share this feeling: that each is the only one.

    I feel like I’m turning into this fierce person. A taskmaster to myself, like a ballet dancer or a monk. Are monks happy? No, they are not interested in that category of feeling. But I’m supposed to be. I’m an American.

    The Huntress left dark patches wherever she passed. She left a streak. In the morning, the hotel staff would find me unconscious, gummed to the floor. The proprietor weeping, for nothing like this, had ever happened in his establishment, nothing. Had I not read the instructions on the desk?

    The fierceness can be seen around the mouth. I compress my lips when I’m thinking. Our dad was the same way.
    In the morning the staff would run me a bath. Now the Huntress bent to my window, but she was not there to feed. She was there as a witness.

    #68914

    Alex Cheung
    Participant

    We messed up

    Gunshots cracking and snapping past me. Impacting the ground and squad cars around me. Another case of negotiations gone wrong. I was behind the ESU Lenco BearCat getting ready to breach the front entrance of the New York Federal Reserve. Earlier, we received a call for a robbery at the New York Federal Reserve where around 10 armed men stormed the Federal Reserve with what seems to be an industrial drill and saws, and also large commercial trucks out back. When we arrived on scene in the Lenco BearCat in under 10 minutes. This called for a large response because of what is stored inside of the New York Federal Reserve. The New York Federal Reserve contains about 5% of America’s gold worth about 11 billion. We sent in a negotiator, but that proved to be the wrong move very quickly. That’s when the shots were fired out of nowhere.
    We had to somehow get the hostages out safely and also stop the bank robbers. When the shots rang out, we knew we had to storm the building or the situation could get way worse. Me and my team got into position stacked up in front of the entrance while another team was stacked up at the back entrance. Before I even registered what was going on, we were storming the Federal Reserve. We were careful to check our corners and surroundings but there was no one there. I swear we were just getting shot at from where we were standing. We needed to see where they went. So, me and my team made our way to the camera room and we spotted them. They all retreated back into the vault with the hostages with some armed men watching the vault entrance and some others stacking the gold on some carts. There was no other way in or out of the vault, the main vault door. We needed a way to distract them without endangering the hostages. After a while we came to the conclusion to use tear gas. This will quickly fill up the vault room with tear gas and allow us to storm into the vault.
    Before deploying the tear gas, we needed to put on our gas masks to prevent the tear gas from affecting us. Once we were ready we brought out our 40mm launcher loaded with less-lethal tear gas rounds and shot a couple 40mm tear gas capsules into the vault room where the robbers were holding the hostages. Once the tear gas went off, we rushed in and took down the robbers while they were affected by the incredibly painful tear gas. Once they were detained and escorted out, everyone including the hostages were searched. After all the chaos had calmed down, a hostage ran up to me and looked alarmed. They said to me “I think you guys are missing a person”, at that moment as if it was on cue, I heard a snap and felt a sharp pain in my left shoulder. I was hit.

    #68915

    Karanjit Singh
    Participant

    Good old days

    Everyday goes by so fast and same routine every time. Starting with waking up and getting ready to either attend online class or go to the gym. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays I don’t have class in the morning, but go to the gym so I can get some fresh air and get a good workout in. After the gym I take a quick shower then eat something while drinking my protein shake. From there on I go straight to my laptop to do some hw especially for my two math classes I take which are calculus and Statistics. Almost the whole day I spend on doing my hw and finally have some dinner. During class days I wake up like an hour or so before my class so I can be ready to focus. My first class finishes and then I eat something light by the time my next class starts. After my classes are done I get back to do my hw or study. I think to myself is this really my everyday life, what is my purpose even. I just reminisce the old days of being young where we would literally have no worries and just had fun all day long, sigh where have those days gone. Everyday used to be so joyful whether it be at home or at school. I can proudly say my childhood was amazing and won’t change a thing about it except one thing that why couldn’t it last longer so I can not take it for granted. We all start to realize that this is truly the reality where we have so many responsibilities to take care of and need to find a purpose of your life which I have not found yet. For some people finding their purpose is easy while on the other hand other people figure it out in the 20s or even 30s. Finding your purpose means to do what you love along with using it to feed you and your family. In our childhood we would be like “I can’t wait to grow up” now I say “Why did I grow up?”.

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