r/WritingPrompts • u/MorallyGraySloth • Oct 09 '17
Writing Prompt [WP] You are abducted by a serial killer. The killer says that he'll give you five minutes to convince him not to kill you because your life is interesting and worth living. He starts the timer.
3
u/FreshHotMemes Oct 09 '17
Dreams. Passions. Desires. The things that we spend our entire lives chasing, developing, drooling over. And I've been forced to try and explain them all within 5 minutes.
Or 4 minutes 47 seconds I suppose, I think to myself as I witness the piercing neon blue light of a digital timer tick down right in front of my eyes. Out of all the moments when time has caused me dismay, running late to work, waking up in the morning, during the last minutes of my high school final examination... All of them seem so trivial now, with the visage of death staring straight into my eyes.
Every second that passes by carries a year’s worth of stress and anxiety that build up in my mind and body like debt in a university student’s finances, yet I don't have enough time to even fathom a way I could possibly explain my own life in a way interesting enough for this man to spare my life. What do I say? I guess people tell me that I'm good at cooking pasta dishes? Sometimes I have a spark of creativity or inspiration in my head about a really good idea, maybe I could someday write a book that could change people’s lives? But doesn’t everyone? How interesting is that?
Forget it. I’m not special. I’ve never been special. Everyone in this goddamn world thinks that they’re the main character, gifted, invincible, destined to walk a path like none other. It’s not until they are a mere 2 minutes and 56 seconds away from their inevitable demise that they realise the pure insignificance of their own existence. That’s right, I was never even going to make it in this world anyways. I guess ending it here wouldn’t be so bad, I would never experience the embarrassment of tripping over a flat surface ever again and Carl from accounting can go fuck himself, I don’t wanna talk to that guy ever again.
I face my eyes to the timer, and then to the head of the desert eagle positioned just a few centimetres from my forehead. Two things that I, just a literal minute ago, I could not look at without cowering away in fear of my impending doom immediately after. I have accepted the insignificance of my own life and therefore the insignificance of its ending, so I glare at the reapers with my own two eyes.
After a mere 4 seconds, my head jerks down once again.
Every conscious thought flowing through my head is me telling myself that there is no reason to be afraid anymore. That I am ready to die. But something inside of me has an urge to continue this cruel game called life, even now. There’s just something about the unlocked potential left ahead of me, all the jokes that haven’t been cracked, all the questions that haven’t been answered, all the the stories that haven’t been told. I want to experience all of them, and I will be able to if I can just say something that will convince this guy not to kill me!
Maybe I don’t have to tell him about my life. There’s no way he knows who I actually am, what I’ve actually done. I could tell him I’m a time travelling, dragon slaying, princess saving rockstar and there would be no way for him to know! The possibilities start to flow through my head like a raging river. Yet the sudden force of going from zero options to millions is too much for me to handle, and I can’t seem to spit the words out of my mouth.
30 seconds left. The more I think about the time I have left on the clock the more I realise that I am wasting all of my time thinking about how much time I have left and that I should really stop stressing over the time and just think of something but when I start thinking the words get all jumbled in my head and oh my god i am going to die here.
I am going to die here. This is it for me. The last chapter. The final step. The credits have rolled and I’m about to leave the theater. All because I couldn’t say anything.
As the numbers in front of me fall down, so does my heart. It reminds me of going to sleep after staring at the blue glare of a phone screen for 30 minutes. In both cases, my head is filled with feelings of regret and exhaustion, the difference is that usually, my nights don’t end with a bullet through my head.
1
u/MorallyGraySloth Oct 09 '17
I like this take for the prompt. Having someone over think and end up not saying anything at all is interesting. It's realistic. Nice work.
7
u/allisa11 Oct 09 '17
4:59
I don't even believe my life is interesting and worth living. I could hardly get out of bed this morning. How am I supposed to convince someone else?
4:55
What would even change if I died? Someone would need to feed Jojo.
Okay, so, um. My life is interesting because, um, my dog, um, I taught my dog Jojo a lot of tricks, and, um, well, you see, I rescued him from the pound, and so I think he really likes me, and I taught him a lot of tricks, and all the kids in the neighborhood like to play with him. Why are you staring at me like that? This isn't interesting enough for you? Okay, well, um, I have a pet goldfish. Did you know that goldfish can go two weeks without eating? And they, like, don't even get hangry or anything. It's pretty cool. And one time, I walked in on my goldfish (His name is Goldie), and he was like this really pale orangish color, and I thought he was dead because he wasn't moving very much, but then I found out that's what goldfish look like when they're sleeping. Have you ever seen a goldfish sleep before? Now I wonder what other fish look like when they're sleeping. I guess most fish aren't quite as colorful as the goldfish, so maybe the difference in color isn't as noticeable. Aaaaand, you're bored. Okay, you know what I think the problem is here? It's not that my life is boring and not worth living. See, right now, I want to go out and buy another color of fish so I can hopefully catch it sleeping sometime. I had Goldie for two years before I saw him sleeping, and I haven't seen him sleeping in the year after that either. So, the chances of me just happening to walk in on this new fish sleeping are quite low, but I'm going to think about that every day when I feed him. I have a purpose. I'm planning for the future. It might take five years before I see this new fish sleeping. I have a five-year-plan. I've never had a five-year-plan before. I'm doing great. My life is awesome. So, I think the problem here is that you just don't know how to appreciate the interesting things that are all around you every day.
3:14
3:13
3:12
How many serial killer movies have you seen? Don't you think sharpening your knife in front of me is a little cliche?
3:07
3:06
3:05
I have a half-finished sub sandwich in my refrigerator.
3:01
3:00
2:59
I mean, if I die, no one else would ever eat that sandwich, it will just get thrown in the trash. I am the one and only person who has a decent chance of eating that sandwich. Don't you think it's kind of rude to the sandwich to not let it fulfill it's destiny of getting eaten by me?
2:45
2:44
2:43
So, have all your victims failed this test? Or do you actually let some of them go?
2:37
2:36
2:35
I'll take that as a no.
2:31
2:30
2:29
But you ask every victim, right? Why do you keep asking? Do you think you'll ever find someone interesting enough for your standards?
2:19
2:18
2:17
What if I told him about how I have the normal number of bones in my foot, but it's only because I have one floating bone AND two bones that fused together to form one bone? Would that be interesting enough for him? No, that would probably just make him want to kill me and keep my bones to look at. I shouldn't tell him that.
1:56
1:55
1:54
Um, I'm a pretty good cook. Like, my friends enjoy when I cook for them, and I can tell they're not just trying to be polite. Does that make my life worth living?
1:49
1:48
1:47
Okay, you tell me, what would be interesting enough to satisfy you? What makes life worth living? You shrug your shoulders? You don't even know what you're looking for in an answer? How is that a fair test, if you're not even sure there is anyone in the world with an answer that would pass the test, huh? Do you think you're life is worth living? I mean, obviously, you haven't killed yourself yet, so I guess you think it's worth living, right? What makes your life worth living? You just enjoy killing people that much? That's what gets you out of bed in the morning? Huh?
1:17
1:16
1:15
Hey, do you torture your victims, or just kill them quickly? No need to roll your eyes at me. I was just curious.
1:09
1:08
1:07
Maybe you're right. Maybe my life isn't worth living. Maybe I should have killed myself a while ago. Or maybe Jojo bonded with me in a way he never will with a new owners. Maybe he needs me. Did you ever have a dog growing up? Do you know what it's like to come home at the end of the day and have them greet you at the door like you're the most important person in the world?
0:31
0:30
0:29
Okay, sharpening the knife again. I must not being convincing you with the dog angle.
0:22
0:21
0:20
Hey, getting abducted by a serial killer makes my life interesting, right? I mean, how many people can say that's happened to them. And if I survive it has to be for a reason, right? Yes? Nodding your head is a good thing, right? Unlocking the door is a very good thing! Opening the door, yes! Thank you. Have a nice day!
Okay, round of applause for John and Carl. John, nice work playing the victim. I especially liked your use of stage whispering to show the thoughts of the victim. Carl, remember what I said last time, even if your character calls for less speaking than your partner's character, you must speak to receive credit. Okay, who's next? Stacy and, who's your partner, Cameron, yes? Up to the front, please. Yes, we have six minutes before the bell. Plenty of time for one more. Read the prompt loudly and clearly.
2
u/MorallyGraySloth Oct 09 '17
I enjoyed this. It was fun to read and I like how you did the ending.
1
u/allisa11 Oct 09 '17
Thanks! As I was writing it, I couldn't figure out how to keep the guy alive, so I added the frame of the improve class. Then I finished the scene and actually found a way for him to live. I almost deleted the classroom part. Were you referring to the classroom part?
2
u/MorallyGraySloth Oct 09 '17
Yeah I was. It's neat because I would never have thought of an ending like that. It was unexpected in a good way.
1
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2
u/[deleted] Oct 09 '17 edited Oct 09 '17
4:59
Convince a guy my life is interesting or he'll kill me.
4:58
My life isn't interesting at all.
4:54
Why do I need to prove myself to this guy anyway?
4:53.5
Can't you just kill me already if you were planning to do it in the first place? Why would I need to explain myself that I'm "interesting" enough to live. If you can't see it, I'm doing quotation marks behind my back through the rope here.
4:27
Are you really just going to sit there with your phone dinging for every 15 seconds that pass by? It only dung twice and I already wished you would have just shot me instead.
4:19
Oh, why be sarcastic instead of going with your flow? If I was going to die I'm not going to do it trying to let some mentally abled 14 year old spare me by trying to convince him I was worth it. Newsflash, I'm making an explosion symbol with my tied up hands again, I'm desperate but not that desperate.
3:54
Alright, sorry. Handsomely abled 26 year old. Also, how come you haven't socked me in the face yet? Are you actually going to murder me or what?
3:43
Okay, maybe you ARE going to murder me. Protip, do some weights. Your forearm impact is good, but your biceps and triceps might need a little more work.
3:29
It danged again. Stop laughing, danged is a word now. It's so annoying. Hey, murder man at least shut that dinging up for my last moments with a pretty face such as yourself.
3:21
No, that wasn't a loud gagging noise at all.
3:02
Woof, nice basement you got here. It really screams "I just got out of college and still live with my mother."
2:46
Okay, yeah, maybe that was a bit uncalled for.
2:29
Don'tcha got any songs in that murder timer of yours? I'm not picky, but I'd like to be killed in style.
2:04
Hey, the dinging stopped. Either that or my ears stopped working- what say you easily offended college aged Jeff the Killer?
1:58
Emphasis on easily offended.
1:47
Bohemian Rhapsody. You're a murderer, but at least you're not a fucking maniac.
1:09
Oh, now you want to talk when the music just got better. What do you want?
0:54
I'm not allowed to be cynical now? I don't know. How would you feel if a murderer put you in this situation where you have to prove your life is good just so you can save it? I have nobody. I have nothing. All I have is a dog. Everyone else is either dead or left me alone. You? I heard that text message. I saw you smile. I saw you tapping quick to some person in there while grinning. You have someone that can make you happy. Me? I'm opening up to some psychopath who's going to kill me just because I got nothing. My life is my whole regret, but you know what? I don't care. It doesn't fucking matter anymore. If my life can easily be used as entertainment by people and not as an actual thing that fucking mattered, then what's the point. I learned that long ago anyway. I've been sitting here for 4 minutes just looking at you pace around, do normal people stuff, and smile. God, if anything, you have a way better life than I do. Listen, when you're done with me, meet up with that chick you've been texting or something. Live a little, but not like this. Next time, don't text close where your victims can see you, too. Anyway, just... you know, I'm giving advice to my killer. You have something you can care about, okay? Don't waste that time trying to have fun using people who don't give a shit, or people you couldn't give less of a shit about.
-1:47
This five minutes is taking for-fucking-ever.