Prompt Drabble #3

Prompt: "I'm going into the woods to scream for a while. Anybody wanna come with?"

“Hey!” She called over her shoulder, “I’m going into the woods to scream for a while. Anyone wanna come with?” Most of the others just looked amused at her antics, but there were a few who seemed to know what her joking tone was covering. She smirked to herself as she shut the door behind her. It’s their own fault if they get creeped out. I invited them to join me. She thought while walking down the path to the darker portion of the forest.

When she reached a spot that felt open enough to hold her true form she stopped for a moment to enjoy the atmosphere of the forest at night. Breathing deeply she let go of the enchantment holding her human shape in place and slowly dropped to all fours in the clearing. Whipping her tail sharply she stretched her front paws out in front of her, extending her three-inch-long claws into the dirt and pulling against the cramp that had been growing in her back. It had been a while since she had kept her human form for that many hours consecutively.

After stretching as well as she could with moving she started sniffing the air. Her long black whiskers twitching on her golden brown nose, she flicked her ears back and forth hoping to hear the sound of small woodland creatures starting their night of foraging. Although her trek along the path hadn’t been at all silent she could already hear the animals beginning to creep along it. Turning around silently, she crouched down in the typical cat fashion, except of course on a much larger scale.

Walking lightly across the clearing, she began to take note of which sounds were closest and which were coming from an animal that she was interested in eating tonight. Taking a deep breath, she let loose a scream that sounded an awful lot like a woman in pain. Let the forest know there is a predator out this night. She heard a doe startle in the woods to her left. Taking a running leap she made her way to the top of the nearest tree. Making her way through the foliage, from tree top to tree top she began humming in her head. “It’s the, eye of the tiger, it’s the thrill of the fight” The joke was not lost on her that this was the song stuck in her head when she decided to go hunting.

When she reached a spot that seemed far enough ahead of the deer she was stalking she made her way silently down to the lowest branch that would hold her. Positioning herself in the perfect place for an ambush, she settled down to wait for her prey to approach. The doe was picking her way slowly through the underbrush, stopping occasionally to snack on the rich green foliage. As it reached the spot directly under the huge brown cat, she screamed the scream of a mountain lion making its final move and dropped down on the doe’s back. Grabbing its neck as she landed she slid to the side and heard the sickening CRACK  of its neck breaking from her weight pulling it down.

Satisfied that her prey was in the bag, so to speak, she stood up and shook herself from head to toe. Hunting in this form wasn’t her favorite pastime, but sometimes the cat wants what the cat wants. Bending down and grabbing the deer’s neck she started back towards the clearing where she had changed. It would be a safe enough place to settle down and eat her midnight snack since it was fairly close to the house. One of my least favorite parts, she thought to herself, is dragging my dinner all through the woods before I have a chance to eat it. When she reached to clearing, she drug the deer to the center and situated herself in a position she could be alert in while also enjoying the fresh and warm meal set before her.

Once she was finished eating, she sat up and looked down at the more than half-eaten carcass in front of her. I’ll clean that up tomorrow I guess. She sat for a while longer, cleaning the blood and bits of flesh from under her claws and making sure there was no residue dripping off her muzzle. Sighing, she stood and began the spell to activate the enchantment she had so recently rid herself of. Although she knew she was safest in her human form, it was not her favorite one. Making sure her clothes were still in order, she slowly made her way back to the house where the rest of the book club was waiting for her. 

Prompt Drabble #2

Prompt: "Write a paragraph where a character apologizes without using the words 'sorry', 'regret', or 'apologize'."

            “Have you ever done something, and then later you just feel… pain over whatever it was you had done?” He asked her quietly. “When I look back on what I did to you, to your family. That’s how I feel. Pain. Sadness. But I don’t know what it means. I’ve never encountered anything like this before.” She looked at him with eyes hardened by the years of horror she had experienced because of him. “What you’re feeling is called regret. And what you are asking me for is forgiveness. But I’m not ready to forgive you. I don’t know if I ever will be.”

Prompt Drabble #1

Prompt: "Describe a thunderstorm without using the sense of hearing"

Sitting on the floor next to the chair, I wait for the next one. I know it’s coming because it started fifteen minutes ago and they’re just getting worse. I’m watching the window because the light always comes first. Then the shaking. Who knew that when I moved to a new state I would encounter this kind of oddity? As far as I can tell no one is panicking about the trembling that accompanies the light and falling water. Being deaf is a hindrance when I’m trying to communicate what I’m afraid of. It seems as if people are either laughing at me like I’ve told a joke or they honestly don’t understand. I’ve given up at this point. It seems to have reached the worst a little while ago so I think it should pass soon. The light flashes again and I feel the rumble through the ground around me and in the air as well. But there, now it seems not as strong as last time. I hope it’s over soon. When I asked what this was, someone finger spelled “t-h-u-n-d-e-r-s-t-o-r-m” whatever that is, I pray it won’t affect my new life in this town.

I discovered something

Well really, my best friend and I discovered something together... We found out we really love reading writing prompts to each other. And I spent a good hour last night writing from a couple of them. I'll post them here I guess, just to keep track of them. But some of the prompts are SO GOOD!! I can't wait to write more!

The Mountain that Others have Climbed

I want to write but don’t know how. I face the mountain that others have climbed and it looks so easy. A thought, a word, an idea is all you need to get started. “Sit down and write” is what they say. So I do. I head towards the mountain and before I even reach the foothills I am exhausted and discouraged. I will never be able to climb the way he does. See how she reaches the summit and exclaims “Look! I wrote this!”. Although I know in my head that they did not have it easy the way my heart says, I sit at the edge of the foothills and just watch. Read the excess of material that flows from the top of this mountain that other people can climb. And with each word I read I see the ideas start flowing in my own head again. “Just sit down and write” a mantra I repeat in my head with each drudgingly placed footstep. I look up and notice that I have reached the foothills. But by now my feet and my fingers feel like they have been incased in iron. Iron hewn from the mountain that others climb. So I look to my own heart and ask the questions that have been buzzing in my ears since I decided to try to climb to the top. Why bother with writing, who cares what you see in your head that keeps racing in circles as you read the paragraphs that others have written? Do you see the skill with which he finds that perfect handhold on that rock face three quarters of the way up the mountain that others are climbing? You will never attain that level of precision. “But just sit down and write” comes the whisper on the wind from the top of the mountain that I try to climb. So again, with heavy feet and heavier fingers; with no gear like the ones who’ve gone on before, I start taking steps not caring which way. I plow on with my head down, thinking the thoughts that drive through my fingers and onto the paper I’ve placed on my lap. I feel as though I am dragging the mountain that others have conquered. One foot in front of the other, one letter following the last, one sentence one paragraph and I look up and see that I have reached the bottom of this mountain. And I keep looking up for it feels as if the mountain stretches up and away past the sky. With this weight that I feel how do I start? Where do the rest of my words need to go? I sat down, and I wrote but now that I’m here I want to turn back. I no longer hear the whisper of encouragement from the mountain itself. Its bulk is blocking the light and at this point I no longer feel interest in what others have made. The ground around me is rocky and strewn with pieces of parchment that I know in my heart are discarded words from the ones like me. The ones who want to write but don’t know how. Aha! There, I see a small path on the steep slope of this mountain that others climb. And I realize, as I start walking again, my fingers flowing across the keys with an ease I felt envious of in the past, that the ruins of the ones who failed are spurring me on. Because they tried and failed. I see remnants from the same people who I saw at the summit! The ease with which I imagined them climbing must have come from the practice they gained before me. The mountain encouraged them too, I believe. And now I can sense it, the mountain that others have climbed is still speaking. Letters are its foothills, words its rocky base, sentences that path that others have taken, paragraphs and page breaks are the valleys and crevices that all mountains claim. And in its heart it holds stories that others have told. The ones who have climbed and fallen and given up and climbed again. The ones who have conquered its slopes and reached the summit of this mountain that I am climbing. As I work my way up I hear the mountain speak of the failures and successes it’s seen. I reach the sheer rock face that I know from observing is closer to the top than the bottom. I sit to rest and hope I can find enough ideas in my reserve tank to continue. I listen as the mountain quietly explains. It says that the heartaches and troubles and pain lend truth to the stories that others have claimed. Because success without work breeds nothing but shame. It tells me that I am no different than the ones who have conquered this mountain that others have climbed. An inspiration hits me; flat on my back I look up and see the ones at the top. They’re waving, but not in an insolent way. Encouragement comes, not from the mountain with stories at its heart, but from the ones who put them there. So I sit up, I get up and place my hands here and there. My feet find footholds and I push myself up. I see each spot to put my fingers next and it occurs to me, as I work my way up, that from down in the foothills, I bet this looks easy! It takes a lot of work, and my energy is failing but I know to give up now? Means this mountain would gain more detritus there in the rocks near its base. And though those are the things that inspired me? I do not want this to be among those down there. So I don’t “sit down and write” for that feels like an out. And easy way to do what I know must be done. I push my weakened mind for just those few more ideas. I tell my fingers that no matter the ache the words must be written. And pushing and pushing I see the edge above me. So reaching with what feels like the last of my strength I curl my fingers over the ridge I can’t see as much as feel. I pull myself up and… no more exhaustion. The end is there, I can see the top. My heart is racing as fast as my mind used to. Exhilaration? Is that what I feel as I get nearer the end of this journey that started with a wishful thought? It is, and I move on with a speed I have not had before. The words are flowing and my feet are moving and I see the ones who have climbed this mountain smiling from the top. They understand the feeling of accomplishment. For I know now that I will finish, I will make it to the top of this mountain that I, and others have conquered. And before I take the last few steps, I turn and look. Others are starting, just where I was, some at the foothills, tired as me, some halfway up with the mountain’s whispers in their ears, and a few on that rock face, my most recent conquest. I smile; I turn and leap the last few feet. That’s it. I made it. I point to my paper and say “Look! I wrote this!”. Now I am the one who those others are seeing. And maybe, just maybe, they’re inspired by me.

Change

There are so many changes. We are so often unprepared for change and unwilling to accept it. I know I used to never want to accept change. I'm getting better about it though.

My life has gone through drastic changes pretty recently (ok, like two months ago but I'm bad at blogging) and I think I'm adjusting well. I've moved to a new state for the next three months, I quit my other job to do this one, I've purchased a car and am driving it pretty consistently. I've even come to enjoy driving.

But sometimes I look at the things I left behind when my world changed. And quite often I am unsure how to react. Do I miss the familiarity of the things I left or do I actually miss the things themselves. Is the reason I am slightly wary of the future just that I *don't* like to be pushed out of my comfort zone, or is it that I really am happy where I am, so change might make me unhappy?

The world is in flux and there are so few things that stay consistent. I'm glad I know one of the things that never changes. I'm glad I can hold His hand and know that He cares for me and my life that's full of changes.

I'm wondering

Why don't kids know how to play duck, duck, goose anymore?

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I want all the good old classic Christmas movies to be somewhere easily accessible. Like, on Netflix or on DVD somewhere. I don't have them if they are. I found a pirated version of "The Year Without Santa Claus" today, but I want to watch "Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer" and... Oh, the one with the abominable snowman, I can't remember the name. Ooh, and the one with the cute little bland elf? See, those are the Christmas movies I grew up watching. I wanna see them. Why aren't they somewhere I can get them?

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OETA is playing the really old Scrooge movie tonight. I forget sometimes how much I like it. I enjoy pretty much any version of A Christmas Carol.

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I haven't watched "Miracle on 34th St." or "Holiday Inn" or "It's A Wonderful Life" yet. I'm planning a get together with my best friend to watch Holiday Inn though. And we always watch It's A Wonderful Life as a family on Christmas Eve, so I know I'm gonna get to see those before Christmas. I'll have to make sure I watch Miracle on 34th St sometime soon. Maybe get my sis to watch with me.

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One of my brothers is really hard to buy gifts for. He's always either grumpy or all "I don't want anything for Christmas"... I just wanna get him a little something fun or funny and he won't give me any hints at all. *sigh*

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The kid's Christmas program was this evening at church. It wasn't too bad. A bit ambitious for the kids that're in our children's church though. There was food and games and gifts afterwards though. Everyone got to take home a big bag of candy and a coloring book, which was pretty great.

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I only have one little gift for one of my best friends. I have two other best friends that I haven't gotten anything for yet. And one of them lives two states away!! Even if I were to get something for her tomorrow and send it right away it wouldn't get to her before Christmas. I'm a bad friend.

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I'm currently doing a thing that is surprising if you know me. But I enjoy it immensely. Some of my friends make fun of me for it, but I don't care. Anyway, I'm gonna keep doing it as long as I can. I've made some good friends doing it and I've made one enemy but that's okay too.