Day 36 of 365 Days of Writing Prompts: Let the pictures inspire you.
Shannon: When the ambassadors sent out a request for volunteers to participate in the Adora Competition, my parents immediately entered my name. It wasn’t a prestigious honor, unless you won, because that was the only way out. If you lost then you died in the game, and they left you there. To understand why parents would risk their child’s life to give her a chance to complete, you’d have to understand what our world is like today. It’s not a good place. We’re breathing, but we’re not living. No one is happy, and we’re trying to fix that with this game.
However, my parents didn’t have the same motive. They tell me the world was good once, and that everyone didn’t always live in fear. That’s what they wanted for me. It would take me away from them forever, but at least I’d have a chance at something better. “Go to the water, and stay in the light when you can. Be invisible, and don’t start fights. Find the world we used to know, or maybe something even better. Don’t give up,” they advised before giving me goodbye hugs.
That’s how I ended up standing over the ambassadors’ game board. They were placing and moving around game pieces that represented new players, trying to strategically decide where they’d be most effective. I was holding my own game piece, waiting for them to pick me.
When it was my turn an employee lead me to a container and explained how to stand inside. I copied his instruction and laid back, keeping my feat against the tube. “The computer will run through the rules again, and then you will hear a countdown once they decide where to place you. Good luck, and remember, you success could save the world. We applaud your bravery,” he shut the tube and locked it.
As the computer voice took over I couldn’t push away my feelings any longer. I was no stranger to fear, but I would be in new turf soon. There was a good chance I might not survive past the first location, and I didn’t want to die. Not with the new promise of finding something better.
The countdown started and moments later the platform holding me up dropped, releasing me into darkness. I felt like I was falling, but suddenly I was sitting in a room that looked like an abandoned Laundromat. There was graffiti covering every wall, and the floor was coated with dirt and garbage. I stood up as soon I was able to take it all in. I felt a little dizzy, so I grabbed onto the sink and took a few deep breaths.
I let my adrenaline take over, and snuck my way to the window. There was no movement outside. It seemed as though they’d placed me in an abandoned town, but that didn’t mean I was alone. “Always carry a weapon. The strongest one you can take with you at the time. Keep looking, never get too comfortable until you reach the ocean,” my dad’s instructions replayed in my head.
I felt sick again, this time out of fear. I can’t do this,” I whispered, shaking my head. I wanted to curl up in a ball and stay here. How was I supposed to find the ocean? I didn’t even know how to find out where I was, let alone where to go.
“If you really want it, you’ll find a way. Anytime you’re scared picture it in your head, endless water,” his voice resurfaced and I imagined myself running in the sand. “Find a boat. Sail away.” My feat had reached the water and I’d gone in deep enough to soak the bottom of my white dress. I felt the sun on my skin and took a deep breath. “You’re safe,” the memory of his voice comforted me. Even if it was just in my mind, I felt a relief I had never experienced before. I wanted it.
I opened my eyes to see the abandoned room again, and it looked different. I was ready for this.
Erin: “I don’t think it is a good idea to keep playing this game,” Rachel worried out loud.
“Nonsense,” I insisted. “What’s the worst that could happen?”
“Have you read the box? We can end the world,” she screamed.
“Calm down babe,” Lucas got behind her and started massaging her shoulders.
“How about you get your nearly single hands the fuck off of me,” she did the exact opposite.
“Sorry,” he obeyed and sat down on the upside-down garbage bin.
“This is all just myth and lore,” I argued rolling for my first turn.
“How do you think this place got so trashed. We are not going to fare any better than this store,” she started to visibly shake and I could tell it pained Lucas to stay away.
“What does the water droplet mean I asked and it didn’t take long to get some clarification,” the cleaning tub faucet started to run the second the sink started to overflow a woman in an off-white dress started to float out as if she were just taking a stroll through a garden.
“What is everyone looking at,” Rachel asked before turning just as petrified as the rest of us once she was facing the correct direction.
Watching football and writing stories.
Pelky Sisters 
Kate:
I had this weird dream last night of an abandoned school my mortal friends & I broke into; it was on the outskirts of our little town and had been closed for twenty years by the time we got around to it. Do you know what an abandoned building looks like after twenty years of desolation? Well, it ain’t pretty, that’s for sure.
We’d had the day off and all of us wanted to find something new to do. Marshall had suggested we head to this water hole (literally) to have a swim but no one wanted to take any more of his propositions since we ended up half a mile down a well. So when Penny said she knew of a creepy old school that had been shut down due to funding we jumped at the idea before Marshall could think of another insane idea.
Off we went to this massive jail-like school elementary school. When we arrive there were signs prohibiting any entry but we just ignored the signs and hopped the fence with ease. The door, however, was a tough one; I had to use a minor spell to gain entry but no one saw me. For an hour or so we all wandered on the first floor before Danny found a staircase and we rushed to the second floor.
All over both floors were cracked and yellowing tiles, peeling wall paper and the stench of still air. On the first floor there was also a pool Penny sloshed around that used to be a science classroom. Who knew how the water got in there. The second floor had its own specific ailments like the roof having collapsed in three different rooms. When we found a bathroom, which was yellowing and graffiti-ridden, the boys tried every single tap for no apparent reason before gazing out the broken glass windows. Down below a basketball court was missing everything except the haunted metal hoops; even the cement had rotted away.
It was no wonder this place was closed down. In one of the classrooms we found a steel safe that would have sat under a teacher’s desk. Though the desk was gone and everything else in the room was rotting away this little metal box endured. Danny tried everything to pry it open including hitting it with scrap metal he’d picked up down the hall and kicking it with his toe. Penny & I both laughed as the two boys wrestled with it for a good half hour before giving up.
Just as everyone else was at the top of the stairs to leave I called them back to show them the open safe; I’d cheated but no one need know that. Amazed as they were, everyone was pretty disappointed with the meager taking. All that was left was an old board game they all played when they were little, a few sticks of chalk and a newspaper from the day the school closed. Someone had obviously left it there for someone to find.
While it wasn’t a terribly rewarding day, it sure was interesting.
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Created to Write:
Nikki walks around the corner. She checks the alley. For a second, there’s nothing. Then, there are two glowing green eyes. Nikki freezes for a second. A large wolf comes out of the shadows. Jacey changes back to human.
Nikki lets out her held breath and nods. The girls go to the door in the alley. It’s unlocked. ‘They wouldn’t have stood a chance.’
They walk in, Jacey keeping an eye on their backs. Nikki turns a corner, then through an open doorway. Josh and Finn are on the other side of the room, at another doorway. There are large, dirty windows on the wall to Nikki’s left, the clean parts of the glass glinting in the dark. Protruding from under the windows, There’s a stone counter. Josh looks at it, then motions for Nikki and Jacey to see. They nod. August comes out from the third doorway, across from the windows.
“We aren’t here to hurt you,” August says. “We know what you can do, and we know there is someone after you.”
“But we want to protect you,” Jacey adds.
There’s no reply.
Finn steps forward. He takes out a white pencil and starts to draw on the floor. He makes tracks and roads. Then he draws colorful game pieces in a separate part of the floor and animates them.
“Want to play?” he asks the counter.
In the corner adjacent to the counter, an invisible shield falls away. There are three huddled there, one dropping his hand from the air. A second one, with a tint of blue and brown on her otherwise olive skin, breaks from the group first. She moves over to Finn.
“You have powers too?” she asks.
“Uh huh,” Finn states, “And what can you do?”
The little girl puts her hand out. The air around her turns dense. A cloud appears above her, then little rain drops hit the ground. Each one that falls on her makes her skin burst with blue star bursts. She stops the rain when she notices it was washing Finn’s drawing away.
The older boy, who hid them, goes over to her. He pushes her behind him. He looks similar, only without the odd coloring on his olive skin. His hair is a mess, and he couldn’t be older than eleven. The third child, a girl, finds his hand and holds on, keeping her eyes closed.
Jacey goes over to her slowly, “What is your power little one?”
“She doesn’t have one,” the boy says quickly.
“We know you three are Inhumans,” August says.
“What does that even mean?” the boy says, his raised voice cracking.
Jacey touches the girls shoulder. Her skin is a lighter shade than the other two. “It’s okay, you can show me.”
The girl turns her head to the voice. She opens her eyes. Jacey gasps. Her iris’ are made of multiple swirling colors. “Why is your hair purple?” the little girl asks.
Jacey chuckles, “It’s actually pinky orange.”
“She sees different colors?” Finn asks.
The little girl looks at the drawing on the floor, “Pretty!” she goes over to it and traces the lines.
Josh squats next to her, “The game is simple, watch.” He starts to move a piece. The girl listens, sometimes pointing out a color, like his eyes are yellow, or his uniform is blue, when really they are brown and green.
The older girl still stays behind her brother. Jacey smiles fondly at her. “Do you all have powers?” the girl asks.
“No, only Starry and I do,” Jacey says.
“What can you do?” the boy asks.
Jacey smiles, then shrinks into a cat.
“Kitty!” The little girl squeals. She sits down and Jacey crawls into her lap. She starts purring, and the girl tries to purr with her. The boy watches the girls he’s been protecting, then looks at August.
“Who are you?”
“The Novelty, we want to protect you from someone that hates gifted people.”
“I’ve heard of you,” the boy says, “you stop gifted people.”
“…Only those that need to be stopped,” August corrects, “You three are innocents. We will protect you.”
“Here?” the boy asks.
“…We could protect them better at home,” Nikki says.
“That is a risk,” August says back, “For now, we’ll wait. If Bronze shows up, we’ll stop her. Ness, watch the North. Jade, the South. I’ll take the West.”
“What about the East?” Finn asks.
August sighs, “We’ll all take turns. You and Jacey stay with the kids.”
The three leave for the rooftop and streets, and the boy sits with his sister to play the game.
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