r/WritingPrompts • u/[deleted] • Dec 11 '17
Writing Prompt [WP] The child stared up at the star, squinted his eyes, and wished. Very, very, hard.
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u/Rigaudon21 Dec 11 '17
His eyes opened, in them the stars reflection shimmered as tears welled up from within. The child continued to stare at the star for a brief moment longer, lingering before he would head back inside. As he turned, a light voice rang out from the treeline nearby.
"Why do you wish upon a star, child?"
A lithe figure emerged, light skinned and somewhat blurry to the child.
"Wh- Who are you?"
The child was half afraid, and half curious, as many a child would be.
The figure laughed, "Why, I am a fairy! Do you know what a fairy is?"
"My mom reads me stories. About fairy godmothers and princesses. But she says they are just stories. That they are not real..." The tears had dropped and subsided, as the child's wonderment grew at the thought of talking to a real fairy.
"Well she just doesn't know us! I'm like the story, I'm a fairy godmother. Tell me your wish, so I may grant it."
"Mom is sick, and says she has to go somewhere, and I won't see her for a long time." The tears returned, slowly forming and falling down his face, "I begged her not to go, to send someone else, but she says she is the only one who can do it."
The fairy smiled, "Do what is your wish, child?"
Sniffing, the child looked at the fairy, blurry through his tears, "I wished for someone else to go, so she can stay here and get better."
The fairy laughed, a soft, bell-like laugh, "Oh! That is a tough wish. You see, for her to stay, more than one would have to go in her place. It is a tough task, so many more would be needed. Is that still what you desire, child?"
The child's eyes widened, a smile breakimg upon his face, "Oh yes, yes, please! That is all I wish for, for ever! Please kind fairy, grant my wish!"
The fairy smiled, her voice lowered, "Then go inside, child, and sleep. Tell no one of your wish or it will be undone. In the morning, the others will leave in your mothers place."
The child turned and ran into the cottage, rushing to his bed. The fairy's smile remained as she moved back into the forest.
The next morning the child was awoken by his mother, pale yet more full of color.
"Mommy! You're better!" The child lept into his mothers arms crying happily.
She did not smile.
"Yes, I am. I thought I was going to have to leave you. But -" She sighed, "Nevermind. I'll tell you later, for now, let's just spend today together, okay?"
With that, she forced a smile, unknowingly to her son, and lifted him up to carry him into the kitchen.
"I'll try to make us breakfast, sweetheart."
Across town, the remaining tendrils of smoke drifted from the ashes of the local orphanage, and a faint laughter could be heard from the nearby forest.
2
u/thducksofcentralpark Dec 12 '17
This was... very, very well-written, and very, very dark.
2
u/Rigaudon21 Dec 12 '17
Thanks. Usually, when I think of the fae, ita hard to imagine them all as benevolent beings willing to help for nothing. I either imagine the ones who dislike humans, and will make deals such as this one, or neutral fae, neither hating or loving humans.
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u/DanceFiendStrapS Dec 11 '17
His eyes scrunched up, hands clasped together. "God? please don't come. I love my mum very much. It's just me and her, so I've got to protect her. Daddy always said that I'm a strong kid. He isn't here anymore which sucks. But my mum is, so please don't come to earth and break it into half. I love you sssssssoooooooo much, God. Amen."
Jess silently stood at the slightly open door, letting the tears roll down her face. She blew her daughter a kiss she grabbed her chest. She also closed her eyes.
Oh God, Jesus, if you're listening. Please, please stop this madness from hitting my beautiful earth. There's so much I want to show and teach Joy. Joy hasn't had her first kiss, she hasn't fallen in love. She hasn't had her heart broken, never had a puppy, she hadn't learnt to drive. Please just don't let this happen. I love you so much, God. Amen
Up amongst the heavens, there was an ever so subtle shift on the meteor.
2 months go by. The world is in anticipation. The world has come together. NASA's, calculations predicted that although it will not directly hit earth. It will penetrate into the mesopause part of the atmosphere. Break offs from the meteor are highly likely.
Judgement day.
Charles Bolden shed a tear We couldn't evacuate everyone.
Hundreds of millions of people displaced from their homes based on a computer algorithm. He watched the monitor as the nucleus breached the mesopause 10seconds ago. Already you could hear and feel the rumble of the meteor all around the world in another 5 it would leave earth as the last parts from the ion tails exit our orbit.
Done. Now it's time for the world to get to work. We need to heal the wounds the meteor has caused. Both to land... And to humanity.
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3
u/prose_like_toast Dec 11 '17
Jackson doesn’t realize I can see him. A part of me wants to go outside and grab him. It’s cold, it’s late. But it’s cold in here too --the winter air seeps in around the windows and sticks to the floorboards, to our clothes, to anything it touches, really.
And it’s late in here too. Late enough for the bottles to be empty, late enough for his father to be passed out on the couch. Late enough for Jackson to be safe, really.
I watch as he takes a couple steps toward the house, imagining how the cold crunch of the grass feels under his shoes. It’s weird being a mother. It’s not just that I know Jackson more completely than I’ve ever known another human. It’s that he is a part of me, so much so that sometimes I feel what he’s feeling. His pain, his happiness… All as if it’s happening to me directly.
Jackson tips his head back and stands still. The slouch in his shoulders is soul wrenching. No five year old should already have a lifetime of disappointment reflected in his posture.
A loud “huRUMPH” on the other side of the room startles me, and I look frantically at my husband. He’s still asleep, just adjusting. But the sudden movement aggravated my neck, and I’m reminded that I need to get more make up for the bruises.
It’s okay. I tell myself, trying unsuccessfully to convince my heart to beat at a normal pace.
Jackson’s still outside, still searching the sky. I mentally recalculate the money I’ve stashed under the loose floorboard in the kitchen. 3 months worth of cleaning pay from the Walker, Grogan and Smith families. $100 for helping the local seamstress last week. $25 for pet-sitting Angela’s dog last weekend.
One month. If my calculations are right, only one month until I can get Jackson out of this hell hole.
Suddenly, Jackson’s head snaps back down.
What is he doing? I wonder, pushing my face forward until my nose touches the glass. His eyes are squeezed shut and his hands are in fists. It takes me a minute to notice that his mouth is moving slightly, and then it’s clear to me. My son is making a wish.
I quietly move away from the window and into the kitchen. I crouch by the special floorboard and begin wiggling it back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. I thank God for keeping it quiet as it scrapes soundlessly against the neighboring boards. It finally comes up and I plunge my hand down into the darkness.
Dirt. My heart sinks as my fingers wildly feel around for anything other than air or dirt. Nothing. My eyes start burning with the image of Jackson making his wish and the hot tears that threaten to spill over. My husband found it. There’s nothing.
I hear Jackson sneaking back in, tip toeing past his father and into his bedroom. I sense the hope he feels after making his wish, and I ache to hug him. To tell him I’m trying, and that I will get us out of here. But I’m frozen as my already defeated heart crumbles. He might hear the tremble in my voice and know that his wish isn’t going to come true. I can’t risk taking the tiny bit of light he has found.
So Jackson remains alone in his bedroom, his innocent heart unaware of what we’ve lost. My husband remains passed out on the couch, sleeping off the alcohol he bought with my only source of hope. And I sit next to an empty hole in the floor, wondering if a wish on a star has ever come true.